The New York University men's basketball team returned to action after a 17-day holiday hiatus on Tuesday, December 30, closing out the calendar year with a 77-54 win over the John Jay College Bloodhounds at the John A. Paulson Center in Manhattan. The Violets improve to 9-1 heading into the 2026 portion of the season.

NYU's Alex Daniels led all players with a season-high 16 points, including 4-7 three-point shooting.

"It was all on us to play well after a long layoff," said Daniels. "This is a good team we played. But, at the end of the day, we knew if we could play the best that we could, we were going to get the win."

NYU held the advantage for the entire first half despite both teams shooting a combined 13-41 from the field to start the game. A 13-0 scoring run in the closing minutes helped the Violets to a 31-18 halftime lead. Daniels accounted for 11 of the Violets' first-half points, leading all players.

In the second half, the Bloodhounds cut into the NYU lead, shooting 11-13 from the free-throw line and pulling within 10 points early in the second.

However, the Violets never relinquished their double-digit lead the rest of the way. 

Luke Kolaja recorded a game-high three blocks and added 15 points. Carnegie Johnson finished just shy of a triple-double, with eight points, nine rebounds and nine assists.

NYU closes out the non-conference schedule on Saturday, January 3, at the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford, CT. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.